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Meet the judge behind the report...

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

'May I speak to Justice B N Srikrishna?' I speak into the telephone receiver.

'No, he is not in.'

'What time is he expected?'

'At 6.30 pm. May I know who is speaking?' comes the inquiry from the other end of the 'phone.

'I am a reporter, and would like to interview Justice Srikrishna.'

Pat comes the reply: 'I am his daughter. And I am not sure whether he will give you an interview, he does not talk to the press. But if you want to come, please telephone and do so.'

Without wasting any more time and taking a huge risk, we left for Justice Srikrishna's residence in the hope that we will at least get to meet him, if not interview him.

Though a judge of the Bombay high court and hence eligible for accommodation in the judges' enclave in a posh area of Bombay, Srikrishna has refused it and continues to stay in his own flat in Matunga, in north central Bombay, in a building which was constructed 49 years ago.

On reaching his building, one runs into a huge posse of policemen outside the building, there must have been at least 20 of them.

Ever since Justice B N Srikrishna undertook the task of heading the commission of inquiry five years ago, he has been provided four bodyguards from the Bombay police. However, yesterday, his security was beefed up further, after the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra decided to table the report in the assembly.

The judge lives on the second floor, in a rather unassuming apartment. His office, where we are led to, is equally unpretentious. The showcases are filled with books, mostly legal tomes, as well books after his heart, like the one on Saint Thyagaraja. The walls are covered with photographs of the Kanchi Shankaracharyas, as well other deities.

The judge himself, still attired in his working clothes of coat and tie, has nothing to say on the matter that had taken over his being for more than four years and which he could well consider the most critical judicial assignment of his life. "I have nothing to say about the report," Justice Srikrishna said rather politely, almost hinting that one needn't have traversed the distance to get just this much from him.

Interestingly, though the Shiv Sena-BJP government has justified its decision to not table his report by imputing anti-Hindu bias to it, the judge's office is full of Hindu/Indian references. The judge is a Sanskrit scholar too, and is also involved with the Bombay high court's computerisation project. And perhaps the Sena would like this piece of information: there is also a certificate adorning the wall, proclaiming his knowledge of Urdu.

Though there are three telephones placed on the judge's table, he is least interested in attending the calls. His main problem is that the press bothers him too much, though as he has mentioned openly and many times in the past, he will never comment on the report since it violates his professional code.

A totally publicity-shy man, it is even difficult to get him to pose for photographs. In fact, a recent television news bulletin ran an old video clip of him and his wife at some public function, which elicited chuckles in the Srikrishna household. A Bombay daily, of course, scored a first of sorts a couple of weeks, when it carried a photograph of the judge, in traditional Hindu garb, emerging from a Matunga temple on Shivratri.

"I am meeting you only because you have come to my house from a long distance. But one thing I am very much against, is clicking my photographs," he dissuades the persistent photographer gently, "Being a public figure people click my picture even when I go to the temple. Now, I can't do anything about it, can I?"

Interestingly, earlier in the evening, the judge met the press after attending the court, wherein too he uttered his famous statement "I have nothing to say." And present in that press corps was a reporter from the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, which had been indicted by the judge in his report.

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